LOS ANGELES – The LA Clippers had an injury scare on Friday night when they took on the Los Angeles Lakers. Guard Austin Rivers exited the game midway through the third quarter with what looked like a potentially serious Achilles injury. He was not available for comment after the game, but left the locker room and the arena on a pair of crutches.

Thankfully, however, the MRI conducted the following morning came back negative for a tear or any structural damage, and Rivers was given the ‘day-to-day' tag with a return against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night questionable. He was quickly ruled out against the Hornets, and was seen walking back in the locker room without crutches or a limp. Rivers spoke with members of the media after the game where he explained what the issue with his Achilles was.

“I've never had any problems with my Achilles prior, so I didn't know what to expect,” said Rivers. “The pain that I was feeling right away just scared me because I couldn't walk on it. I just hoped and prayed it was nothing serious and turns out I have a muscle back there that keeps getting jammed, so it's causing me not to be able to walk on it. They unjammed it though.”

Rivers suffered the injury defending Brandon Ingram late in the third quarter. Teammate Sam Dekker came to help on an Ingram drive, and Rivers lost his footing a bit when stepping on Dekker's foot. Rivers lost his balance and fell to the floor with his right foot making an awkward move that appeared to extend Rivers' Achilles. He immediately bounced back up to his feet to get back to defending only to find out that he couldn't move or put any weight on his right foot.

“I didn't know [right away],” added Rivers about if he knew he was injured right away. “I just felt something tweak. I just thought I twisted my ankle so I tried to get up and walk and I could not put any weight on it. They just figured it out, really, today because they didn't know what the hell was going on. I got an MRI, it came back and said everything was fine. So I was thankful for that. Then they pulled my foot and it just popped to where I was able to just start walking again. It was just like, ‘there.' It was crazy. And then they were working on it and they redid it again to where I couldn't walk again. I'm dead serious. Y'all think I'm being funny, but I'm dead serious. I couldn't move because they jammed it. I can't tell you the term, but there was something jammed, they unjammed it, so I've just got to continue to strengthen it, but its not a problem.”

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Achilles injuries are probably the worst and most worrisome for an athlete considering the importance of it as well as how long it would take to recover from any strains or possible tears. Lakers' legend Kobe Bryant, who suffered a torn Achilles in 2013, described the injury ‘brutal' and something that no mental toughness could help with. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman played through Achilles pain for weeks as the team fought for a playoff spot and ended up tearing his in the team's Week 10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

Rivers is thankful his injury was something minor, especially considering the immediate pain he felt as well as the fact that he couldn't put any weight on it.

“It just felt like a sharp knife,” Rivers explained. “It felt like a knife was just jabbed at my Achilles so that's why I was like, ‘this feels like something just tore,' or something like that. And then when it jammed, I felt something pop. So when you feel a pop and stinging in your Achilles, you can't put any weight on it, and never having anything like that before… I'm sitting here thinking [I might've tore it]. I told JP, ‘JP, I might've tore it.' and JP's like, ‘don't say that. Don't say that.' I couldn't walk on it so I started to get emotional just cause I was like, ‘please, this cannot be [a tear].' That's one of the worst things you could have as an athlete these days.”

With the Clippers catching a break and the injury not being serious, Rivers says he's eyeing a return on Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, when the team plays the second game of a five-game homestand.

“I do [plan on playing]. “I don't know what they're (the team) talking about, but I plan on playing Tuesday.”